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Andrew Scott Conning

The Kodansha Kanji Learner's Course: A Step-by-Step Guide to Mastering 2300 Characters Paperback – December 6, 2013

by Andrew Scott Conning (Author)

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Kodansha's widely acclaimed Kanji Learner's Course (KLC) is a complete guide to mastering all the kanji needed for genuine literacy in Japanese. It anchors a comprehensive kanji learning system, supported by the KLC Graded Reading Sets, the KLC Green Book, the KLC Wall Chart, and keystojapanese.com (a user-support website for forming study groups, exchanging tips, and tracking one's learning progress with points and level ranks). The KLC is also cross-referenced for convenient use with Kodansha's companion volume, the Kanji Learner's Dictionary.

THE FOUR ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS FOR KANJI LEARNING
The 2,300 entries of this main textbook adeptly integrate the four essential elements for mastering kanji meanings:

(1) Accurate keywords. Each character's core meaning is encapsulated in a concise, easily memorized keyword. The keywords for all 2,300 entries have been carefully chosen to be semantically accurate and to integrate the character's various senses into a core idea.

(2) Vocabulary to illustrate the keywords. The concept captured in each keyword is illustrated with up to five sample vocabulary items, carefully selected to clarify how the kanji is used in building typical words and phrases.

(3) Mnemonic aids for remembering the keywords. Each entry contains an original mnemonic aid that is carefully designed to help learners remember the character's core meanings. Mnemonic aids pay special attention to helping learners immediately recognize each kanji and distinguish it from lookalikes.

(4) Rational learning sequence. The course's widely praised sequence represents a breakthrough in kanji pedagogy. It aids learning by introducing kanji components step by step, grouping related kanji together, and building vocabulary progressively - all while teaching kanji in rough order of importance.

A SELF-GUIDING, SELF-REINFORCING COURSE
The course arranges all the information needed to master 2,300 characters into a streamlined, self-guiding, and mnemonically self-reinforcing curriculum. Sample compounds include only such kanji as have previously been learned, ensuring that learners are able to understand and use each compound, and providing a built-in review of all the kanji already studied.

THE ULTIMATE KANJI LEARNING RESOURCE
* Provides a sophisticated, pedagogically sound method for remembering the core meaning of each kanji, conveniently summarized in concise keywords to facilitate memorization.
* Introduces the meaning and usage of each grapheme the first time it appears, helping learners seamlessly acquire new kanji based on a sound understanding of their component parts.
* Innovatively uses concrete imagery to simplify complex characters and make their meanings immediately recognizable in their graphical forms.
* Teaches characters in a pedagogically effective sequence, presenting graphically related characters together to help learners give significance to their contrastive features as they learn them, and thereby avoid having to re-learn them later.
* Helps learners actively apply each character's principal meanings and readings using key vocabulary words, carefully chosen to illustrate the character's uses and to help learners employ it in everyday reading and written communication.
* Helps learners differentiate among graphically similar kanji by showing how to remember the characters in a mutually contrastive manner that connects their graphical distinctions to their underlying semantic differences. Along the way, the course introduces nearly 800 pairs of easily confused kanji.
* Helps students learn to write kanji accurately, by indicating each kanji's stroke order and placing careful emphasis on distinctions among graphically similar characters.
* Includes all the kanji needed for genuine literacy in Japanese, including all 196 characters added to the official Joyo Kanji List in 2010.

Print length

720 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Kodansha USA
Publication date

December 6, 2013
Dimensions

6 x 1.4 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

1568365268
ISBN-13

978-1568365268
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"The most effective kanji learning tool available today."ー Jack Halpern, CEO of the CJK Dictionary Institute

From the Author

Master Kanji Through Extensive Reading: To give you the capacity to read a diverse range of authentic Japanese texts, the Kodansha Kanji Learner's Course now has an accompanying series of Graded Reading Sets (GRS) with over 30,000 reading exercises graded kanji-by-kanji, parallel English text, complete pronunciation guides, and extensive grammar support. Download the FREE Volume 1 of the GRS series (bit.ly/2hqs6Fp) to experience the pleasure of reading and understanding authentic Japanese from your very first kanji.
Supporting tools: To further support your studies with the kanji course, please take advantage of the accompanying writing practice workbook called the KLC Green Book (amzn.to/2dvKpFF), as well as the beautiful KLC Wall Chart (bit.ly/2gEV8kU).
User support: For insights into learning Japanese, subscribe to my blog (keystojapanese.com/blog) and join the growing community of KLC users at Facebook.com/groups/klcusergroup.
For kana learners: If you're working on mastering kana, please take full advantage of my Kana Learner's Course (wp.me/P7A3eU-1j) and my unpresuming The Ultimate Kana Wall Chart: A Visual Guide to Japanese Phonetic Writing (bit.ly/2hBYeq8).
Connect with me at asc349 [at] mail [dot] harvard [dot] edu. Sincere thanks for your interest, and best wishes for your studies.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Kodansha USA; 1st edition (December 6, 2013)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 720 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1568365268
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1568365268
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.14 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.4 x 9 inches

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Customer Reviews:
344 ratings

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Andrew Scott Conning

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I created the kanji course because it was the kind of tool I wished had existed when I was studying kanji myself. I sincerely hope that it will help you on your way toward a more direct and profound understanding of Japan and its people. To enhance your studies with the kanji course, I've prepared a Writing Practice Workbook (ISBN: 069272799X). By all means use keystojapanese.com to track your progress with the KLC, form study groups, ask questions, etc. Also feel free to connect with me at asc349 [at] mail [dot] harvard [dot] edu. Sincere thanks for your interest, and best wishes for your studies.

Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5

344 global ratings

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Valtyr

Indispensable guide to kanji

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 4, 2023

Verified Purchase

This book in conjunction with the graded readers is hands down the best resource for anyone seriously interested in learning Japanese. With simple mnemonics for each kanji, as well as kun and onyomi readings and a selected set of vocabulary terms, it really can't get much better than this book. Using the graded readers along with the learner's course makes it very easy to internalize the general meaning of kanji (and learn some grammar on the way).

If I had one criticism, it would be that some of the vocabulary terms aren't necessarily the best. But, this isn't the goal as in the introduction, the author states that the vocabulary terms are more so to help teach the readings of the kanji rather than be a comprehensive set of useful vocabulary terms.

Helpful

Anon ymous

The best tool to learn Kanji for serious learners. Period.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 6, 2021

Verified Purchase

Before this, I've used a couple of other methods such as WaniKani, RTK, and have been frustrated by them for one reason or another. And this book is working for me!

How I use the book :

I study 1 page (4 kanji and 6 associated vocab) every weekday and on weekends I spend time reviewing what I've learned the past week. I start by reviewing the Kanji I learned the last two days(8 kanji) and making sure I remember and am familiar with them. This generally takes about 10 minutes or less. Then I start by writing the the new kanji using the green book and getting the stroke pattern correct. Then I read over the mnemonic and look at any previous kanji or radical the explanation mentions. I really try to grasp the mnemonic in my head, and try to "visualize" the story. I repeat this for the 4 new kanji I am learning that day. This usually takes about 15 - 20 minutes. After this, I take the important vocabulary provided in the book and add that into an Anki deck and study the words. I never learn more than 6-7 words a day, so 6-7 vocab + 4 kanji is enough for me per day, as I also study Genki vocab and grammar. I generally spend about 45 minutes on Kanji each day, and never exceed an hour. I feel that this has helped prevent burnout.

Anki is your best friend. There are a few anki decks available for this course, just use that if you are too lazy to make your own deck. Japanese is not an easy language to learn, and Kanji is the area where most learners give up due to the sheer number. As long as you are in it for the long haul, this book will work for you. It's not quick, it does not promise you things other courses do, but it will work if you are determined.

Pros :
- Mnemonics that work. The stories that the author provides for each of the Kanji are amazing and really help with memorizing and recalling the Kanji. It's strange how well this method works.
- Order of the Kanji is amazing. Kanji that look similar are grouped together. The author makes sure to introduce you to the components of each Kanji before introducing the compound kanji.
- Provides useful vocabulary words and circles the important ones. I personally find this very useful, as I only study the important vocab as I will surely pick up other vocab "in the wild".
- The graded readers are a huge help. Each of the graded readers only introduces kanji you've learned before , this has not only helped me review the kanji and vocab, but it has also helped me become better at reading Japanese.

Cons :
- If you are aiming for some tests such as JLPT or are looking to learn in a specific order, this book may not be for you. The goal of the book is to teach you all the useful kanji, in an order that gets you there in the quickest and most efficient manner.
- Introduction in the books is quite long, and is very tedious. I just ignored it after a few pages and have found my own way of studying that works for me.

Overall, if you are serious about studying Kanji and aren't in a rush to meet some arbitrary deadline or goal, this book is the best resource you will ever find. It will help you learn Kanji, vocab, and meanings. Pair this with a great grammar book such as Genki, Tobira, Tae Kim and as long as you are consistent, you will see progress!

8 people found this helpful

Helpful

C. Cameron

Effective building block approach, plus uses appropriate (visual/radical/etymological) aids based on individual kanji

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 9, 2016

Verified Purchase

I know Japanese up to the lower intermediate level (three college classes; ~1,000 words), and I really wanted to continue learning the language on my own, with a preliminary goal of reading shounen manga in their native tongue. Alas, every English speaker learning Japanese knows the huge hurdle that kanji represent when it comes to reading. I needed a method to pick up kanji effectively, so after reading the reviews and book descriptions, I selected this book because it was highly rated and, most importantly, because it includes all of the 2300 basic kanji (most books only include several hundred up to a thousand, requiring you to inconveniently jump ship to another book when you finish).

I've been using this book for just over a month, having made a New Year's resolution to learn 4 kanji per day, a goal I set using the book's layout of 4 kanji per page. This will allow me to begin my dive into native materials before the year's end. I have found that compared to my experience studying kanji from textbooks (e.g. Genki, Tobira), Kodansha offers a much more intuitive experience. The basic Japanese textbooks just throw kanji at you and tell you to memorize them. They do not explain radicals, which can really simplify the learning and association process; they do not use visual mnemonics or etymological backgrounds; and they do not introduce kanji in an order conducive to learning. As two examples of many, Genki teaches the character for "road" (道) without ever first explaining the character for "head/neck" (首); or, Genki teaches the character for mother (母), without telling you that this represents breasts (turned sideways)...trying forgetting the character now! This isn't to fault the textbooks, as such explanations are beyond their scope; it's merely to point out the textbooks are a rather ineffective way to learn all of the kanji, particularly complicated ones.

Kodansha, fortunately, uses a multi-dimensional approach focused on one thing: making the kanji stick in your mind. Depending on what is useful for an individual kanji, the book explains the kanji's meaning using the appropriate and salient selection of radicals, visual mnemonics, or etymological backgrounds, or any combination thereof. I like that this book (unlike others) does not force awkward or ill-fitting visual mnemonics or complicated and obscure etymological backgrounds on kanji where it doesn't work; the book uses only what relatively simple learning aid makes the most sense for each individual kanji. Furthermore, the book introduces kanji in a building block order, allowing you to utilize what you have already learned to simplify the learning of new kanji. For example, kanji are often introduced as combinations of kanji you have already studied; as conceptually related groups tied around a similar radical or idea; or as contrasting groups where similar appearing kanji with different meanings are compared by the stroke to emphasize what makes them visually different, explaining how to interpret that visual difference to underscore the different meanings. It achieves this without becoming dull and repetitive.

Each kanji includes several, typically 3-6, example words. The example words are strategically selected to use kanji previously covered in the book, which helps reinforce what you have studied. Per the book's own recommendation, I find it most effective to learn each kanji in the context of the example words (instead of just associating the sounds to the single kanji), selecting 2-3 vocabulary that cover at least two (where two or more exist) of the kanji's pronunciations. As suggested, I write the new words at least 10 times each, reading aloud (or in my head) as I write, associating sound to character. Sometimes the words will be familiar -- you knew the word, just not how to write it. Sometimes, the word is new, so you increase your vocabulary. Using this method, I have not only expanded my kanji knowledge base, I have expanded my vocabulary. Additionally, each day, before I begin to study my 4 new kanji, I return to the previous day's kanji to write them, and then I will select 2-5 kanji (often ones I struggled with) from even earlier pages. Over the past month or so, I have comfortably learned ~150 kanji (I up to kanji #188, but already knew some of the kanji introduced).

The book's main negative is its lack of context: it does not use example sentences for the words. I understand, however, that this is a space issue (the tome would be enormous were this included for all 2300 kanji), and furthermore, this is a kanji book, not a vocabulary or grammar book. And it succeeds at teaching kanji quite well. Particularly for new verbs, I use a dictionary to get an idea of the verb's usage. With a quick search on my phone's Japanese dictionary app, I do not even have to close the book while I look up example sentences when needed. Thus, I do not feel inconvenienced by the lack of examples.

Granted, this is the first book of its kind that I have purchased, but I am convinced that there is not another book on the market to beat it for teaching non-native speakers kanji quickly and effectively.

90 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Lewis Bailey

Kindle version the worst quality I've ever seen

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on September 29, 2022

Verified Purchase

Basically the kindle version is just a pdf which they didn't bother to format for kindle, there are just so many reasons why you shouldn't buy it in it's current condition.

1. Pictures/text just cut off page to page (I'm talking 90% of pages)
2. Text isn't highlightable, making it impossible to lookup words - kind of important for a foreign language textbook.
3. Font size/page formatting changes every page.

I don't know how the publishers can honestly release this at a value of around £26 and not feel embarrassed. Shame on you.

2 people found this helpful

Amazon Customer

Okay

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on August 2, 2019

Verified Purchase

First of all, seeing as it's not in print, or distributed by amazon, at the moment, the second hand price is absolutely ridiculous, so please no one buy it for £400+.

In terms of learning, it was good for the first 500 or so kanji, then after that the convoluted teaching method and use of obscure vocabulary or terms to describe certain pictographs or radicals were obstructing the learning process in my opinion. I recommend using it for the first 500-1000 then making up stories as you go along, a la Heisig.

Is it better than Heisig? Depends on your learning style, although I feel this book is great for those who struggle with imagination and require a more dictated form of teaching, despite its shortcomings by the midpoint.

Despite reaching the midpoint, the story system wasn't that effective in maintaining kanji recall, so like hundreds of thousands of learners have said since time immemorial; just learn vocabulary, don't bother with kanji.

Requires Anki.

2 people found this helpful

DJ

It looks like a scan done by a five year old (badly). Absolute joke!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on December 2, 2022

Verified Purchase

Nothing to like. Simply disgraceful that this was ever put on sale. Do not buy it.
Edit: I have the (paper) book, it's great because of the integrated readers to review with. This review is for the "Kindle edition", which after my review seems to be no longer available. Good. Please bring out a proper Kindle version and I will gladly purchase it.

One person found this helpful

Geoff

The real deal

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 15, 2020

Verified Purchase

For anyone serious about learning kanji, this is THE place to go.

The way the Green Book, the Learner's Dictionary and the blue Kanji Learner's Course work together with the Reading Sets is a thing of beauty and makes learning enjoyable while making you feel that you are getting somewhere at all times.

A superhuman amount of work has gone into this and huge congratulations and a massive, massive thank you are due to the author.

One person found this helpful

Char

Would recommend

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 25, 2017

Verified Purchase

I highly recommend this book! As a self studier, I found it quite difficult to know where to start with kanji and became overwhelmed. I stumbled upon this book and I'm glad I bought it - it provides clear structure for learning the kanji and easy to remember mnemonics.

4 people found this helpful

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